ASO Research: How to Rank Before You Launch
What I learned spending a week deep in App Store Optimization before writing a single line of marketing copy.
ASO Research: How to Rank Before You Launch
Before I write a single word of App Store copy, I spent a week doing keyword research. Here's what I found and how I'm thinking about positioning.
Why ASO Matters More Than You Think
Most indie developers treat the App Store listing as an afterthought — something you fill out the day before you submit. That's a mistake. The App Store is a search engine, and like any search engine, the decisions you make upfront determine whether people can find you.
The good news: the App Store is less competitive than Google. There are fewer people doing serious keyword research, which means there's more opportunity for a well-optimized listing to rank.
The Keyword Research Process
I used a combination of AppFollow, Sensor Tower's free tier, and just... searching the App Store manually and paying attention to what autocomplete suggests.
My target keywords fall into three buckets:
High volume, high competition: "social media app", "creator app", "content creator tools". I'm not going to rank for these at launch. Too competitive, too broad.
Medium volume, medium competition: "build in public app", "creator community", "indie developer social". These are my primary targets. Enough search volume to matter, not so competitive that I can't rank.
Low volume, low competition: "software entrepreneur app", "coding social network", "developer community app". These are long-tail keywords where I can rank #1 or #2 relatively easily. Lower volume, but highly qualified traffic.
The Title and Subtitle Strategy
The App Store title gets the most weight in search ranking. I'm planning:
Title: [App Name] — Creator Social Network
Subtitle: Build in Public. Grow Your Audience.
The subtitle is keyword-rich but also communicates the value proposition immediately. Someone searching "creator social network" sees exactly what the app is.
Screenshots Are Conversion, Not Discovery
A mistake I see a lot: treating screenshots as a place to show UI. Screenshots are a sales tool. The first screenshot should answer "why should I download this?" not "what does this look like?"
I'm planning to use the first screenshot as a value proposition statement with a supporting UI element, not a raw screen recording.
The Pre-Launch Strategy
I'm submitting the app for App Store review 2 weeks before launch. This gives me time to fix any rejection issues without delaying the launch date. I'm also planning to use TestFlight to get 200–300 beta users who can leave early reviews — social proof matters a lot in the first 30 days.
I'll stream the full App Store submission process when we get there. Follow the newsletter to get notified.
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